Override
by Ciel the Hedgehog
Summary: Your world is just data, modeled to resemble our own. It is nothing but a fabrication. Whether the world you live in exists at the moment can simply be determined by the press of a button. If the power switch is off... so are you. Nothing but a lie."
1. Chapter 1

"Hey guys

"**Hey guys! Okay, this isn't just any story…this is an ultimate collab! Blue Mage Quartet, Azngirlchibi, and I are working on this story together, with much help from others. So, we all hope you enjoy it! Here's the first chapter; it's a little short, but it's a start all the same!" –Ciel the Hedgehog**

**"Hope you enjoy the story, and feel free to review and leave constructive criticism! Also, feel free to check out each author's individual profile(s) for more great reads!" –Blue Mage Quartet**

**"Please comment on the story, even if you hated it! We need the advice, and plus, it'd make us happy... and happymore updates! YAY!" –azngirlchibi**

**Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters belong to SEGA. Any other characters belong to the authors working on this story unless otherwise noted.**

**Also, much thanks to the founder of this collab, Playstation14. Thanks are also in order for Skitzoism, SexyShadowGirl, and Maverick87. Sorry if I forgot anyone there! Well, enjoy!**

The dawn sky was as pink as worms smeared across the pavement.

Sonic couldn't help thinking this as he freefell, his skin flapping from the wind and the tears from his eyes falling upwards. In all his life, Sonic never thought that he would think something was happening too fast for him, but as the ground rushed up towards him, black and uninviting, he couldn't help thinking of himself splattered like a water balloon across the pavement.

Then again, thinking of water balloons made him think about water. He didn't really want to spend the last few seconds of his fifteen-year old life thinking about the one substance on Earth that he hated the most.

'_And I say I have about… ten seconds to choose my final thoughts.'_

Pulling out a mental checklist of things he would think about when freefalling to his death (Tails had blatantly threatened him with a spork-like screwdriver that he would kick him out of his workshop if he could not find something to do, which apparently, did _not _include looking for ways to have fun with a staple gun…), and began going through the list methodically. Until he remembered that he _hadn't _listened to Tails's advice and had spent the rest of the day stapled to a tree by his gloves.

'_Okay then… improvising it is. I was always good at that…'_

Sonic looked up for a moment. The sky was pulling away from him, going too fast for him to catch. For some reason, he couldn't quite remember how he was falling in the first place. It was like he had just woken up to find himself zooming towards the ground. Except this time, Tails wasn't going to miraculously appear with the Tornado to catch him – he was by himself this time.

And unfortunately, it seemed like he wasn't about to grow wings any time soon.

'… _I'm not really good with this 'final thoughts' stuff, am I.' _He furrowed his eyebrows (kind of. It was hard to do when the wind seemed oh-so-eager to give you an unwanted eyebrow-plucking treatment). _'At least think of something that will make you die happy. Or laughing.'_

A picture of Knuckles foaming at the mouth as a fly landed on the Master Emerald immediately flashed through his head.

Sonic chuckled, though the sound was torn away from his lips.

He dared a quick peek at the ground again. Why hadn't he _splat _yet? Maybe the ground wasn't as close as he had thought it was. Which equaled an even more painful landing.

It also meant that he was going to have to think some more.

'_Boy, I hate thinking.'_

And as if the ground had heard him, it rushed up until it was mere inches from his face.

Sonic squeezed his eyes shut. _'Here it comes…' _

Suddenly, something flashed by his eyes.

'_Game Over. Continue?'_

And everything turned white.

If there was anything to describe how Sonic was feeling right now, it took only one word: confused.

At first, the Blue Blur thought he had accidentally Chaos Controlled into the middle of rush hour traffic in Central City. Besides remembering the fact that he didn't have an emerald to pull off this stunt in the first place, a quick glance around (once he had gotten out of the street, of course) revealed something extremely strange: all humans. Sure, there were quite a few humans back home, and they often preferred to live in cities, but this many without a fellow hedgehog or something in sight? It was insane! Plus, they were all staring at him…usually, when people wanted his autograph, they swarmed first, and asked questions later.

"Look Momma!" One little human boy exclaimed. "That man in the funny suit looks like Sonic!"

"His outfit sucks," A second boy, probably a brother to the first, retorted. "His head's too small, and he looks all funny."

Before retorting that he was not dressed up as himself, Sonic heard a woman (presumably the kid's mother) shriek. In fact, quite a few people were shrieking. Definitely not a good reaction for autographs.

_"Apparently, these people don't know how to handle their friendly neighborhood hedgehog,"_ He thought with a smirk. _"Not much choice than to hightail it out of here."_

The Blue Blur quickly decided to head left, speeding off without another word. The whole city seemed unfamiliar to him, and why did people keep staring instead of getting out of his way? At least he was going fast enough to ignore their screaming. Though it was also strange, in the fact that there were no speed panels on the road, like usual. Or loop-de-loops. Was it just him, or were there no rings either?

Wait a minute…

Skidding to a halt, Sonic saw a familiar (and handsome, in his opinion) face plastered in one of the windows. It was a poster advertising for a new game by Sega, starring…

"Me?" The hedgehog stepped back. His own game? Sweet! When he got home, he'd have to make Tails check on it. Maybe he'd get it, just to see how well he could play as himself…

It was then that Sonic noticed his reflection in the window.

Compared to the poster, the face staring back at him was…different, to say the least. It looked like he had been stretched out a bit; his body was longer, his head and eyes smaller, and his fur was short and rugged. And what was up with his muzzle? He rubbed his face, thankful that at least his gloves and shoes stayed the same.

_"What the heck happened to my face? I think I would remember if I dressed up for Halloween or something…no, this doesn't feel like a mask."_

Were those sirens in the background? Whipping around, the Blue Blur came face to face with a pair of humans dressed in black, and a nearby car with flashing lights and a badge imprinted on the side. Policemen?

"Well, hiya' officers," Sonic said with a wave. "Say, think you could help a guy out? I seem to have taken a wrong turn somewhere…what city is this? New Westopolis?"

The officers exchanged glances with each other, then at the poster in the shop window, and finally back at Sonic. Judging by the way their mouths were hanging out, they were surprised by the hedgehog in front of them being able to speak.

"You're in Los Angeles kid," One of them said. "Now, get out of the suit, and get ready for a trip to the court. We need to have a little chat."

"Again with the outfit?" Sonic asked, tapping his foot. "What makes you think I'm wearing an outfit? Though I admit, it does look sorta' funny…say, maybe Tails pulled a prank on me? I was pretty sure we already went through April Fools day, but then again…"

_Clink._ Something cold and metallic snapped onto his wrists. Did he just get handcuffed? Sonic the Hedgehog, handcuffed? What madness was this?


	2. Chapter 2

**Ciel- Wow, we certainly got a lot of reviews for the last chapter. I'm surprised! Anyway, this chapter was written by Blue Mage Quartet (the last one was half from me, and half from azngirlchibi, by the way), and we hope you enjoy it!**

**--**

If there were two things Sonic absolutely loathed, they were, in order:

If there were two things Sonic absolutely loathed, they were, in order:

1.) being confined in small short, short spaces with very little room to move

2.) and being forced to ride in vehicles. Seriously, those hulking, two-ton scrap heaps with wheels attached were so _slow. _Sonic wondered how Shadow could stand to drive something that couldn't even go a fraction of his max speed on-foot. And some of them were just so bulky and plain ugly.

"_Like these police cars," _Sonic thought as the handcuffs clamped around his wrists. "_Now give me a good bi-plane. That's the way to travel in style. Feel the wind in your fur, and the sun on your skin." _

A small crowd had started to gather around the scene, a mix of curious, worried expressions as well as the people whose eyes were so huge that they looked as if they would just pop out of their sockets and roll along their merry way.

Sonic gave himself the once-over, searching for something on his person that said, "Yes, please do stare at me until I'm uncomfortable". He hated the feeling of so many eyes on him at once, staring at him as if he was some kind of freak of nature. It wasn't like he was a terminally ill, child cancer patient.

So, naturally, this situation wasn't turning into something Sonic would place at the top of his "20 Things to Do before I Die" list.

The hero was interrupted from his thoughts as one the police officers forcefully shoved him through the open car door and into the back seat.

Landing face forward on the leather seat, Sonic squirmed around ungracefully trying to turn face-up. "Can't…. even… move properly with these things," Sonic lamented as the metal chafed his wrists.

His attempt at curling up in a ball and dashing through the cuffs couldn't exactly be called successful. His arms, locked together behind him, weren't able to curl forward like he was used to.

The hapless hedgehog sighed as the door behind him slammed, wondering what exactly he had done to be thrown into the back of a police car. This spot was reserved for arsonists, robbers, and people who stole other people's underwear. Not for heroes who've saved the world more times than could be counted on both fingers and toes.

"I've even _died _once," Sonic grumbled, his arms beginning to ache as he managed to turn on his side and lever himself up into a sitting position. "You'd think people would be a _little _more grateful."

Sonic's ears perked up as the engine revved. He flinched as the tires squealed from the 0 to 40 acceleration, barreling forward into the traffic-jammed city streets.

His eyes took in the packed together buildings of several varieties: Laundromats, bar-and-casinos, hotels. The sun was shining agreeably through clear grayish-white clouds, although partially obscured by tendrils of smog, and from the bearable temperature, Sonic guessed it was sometime around mid spring here in…

"Los Angeles," Sonic said, more to himself than to the officers manning the vehicle. He'd never heard the name back home, and wondered briefly if there remained undiscovered territory on his planet, but nixed the idea. He and Tails (with Knuckles sometimes along for the ride, albeit grudgingly, and Amy usually stalking-following- along too) had explored all the major zones and bodies of land. If there had been such a large, populated city, they wouldn't have missed it.

Twiddling his thumbs, Sonic looked up at the tall humans in the front seat. They didn't _look_ different compared to Station Square's humans. Just… the hedgehog thought they looked unhappy, tired. Their faces seemed much paler- almost wan- compared to the humans he'd often met. Their lips curled into a frown, their eyes cold and not exactly friendly.

As if pain, anger, and grief were everyday occurrences etched into them. An inescapable, inevitable part of their lives.

"_I wonder if these dudes are ever happy…_" he thought, considering that it might just be the fact that they were police officers that made them that way.

Not to mention they were a whole lot less accepting of the good guys.

"So," Sonic stated idly, hoping to make conversation. Anything was better than listening to the monotonous sound of car horns bleating repeatedly. (Seriously, traffic isn't going to magically fix itself, no matter how many times you jam down on your steering wheel.) "Would one of you mind telling me, y'know, what I did? Because, if just standing on the sidewalk minding your own business is a crime, there are about 20 people you didn't cuff back there," Sonic pointed with both hands over his shoulder, the chain binding his gloved hands together jingling softly.

Both officers ignored him, the one driving opting instead to turn on his blinker and turn to the right.

The scenery didn't change much as they headed further into the city. Sonic briefly wondered how in the world these people were able to breathe, due to such mass emission of exhaust fumes- "Another reason why cars are bad," Sonic murmured to himself- and the extreme clogged and crowded nature of the city in general. The hedgehog smiled to himself as he imagined that if this Los Angeles place was a person, it's arteries would be massively congested and the city would've died of heart failure many times over.

Plus, everything was so very… _human. _The only objects in sight were off-white, faded buildings, telephone poles whose lines spider webbed above the street like a net, and concrete sidewalks with black-yellow roads sandwiched between them.

"I haven't even seen a single tree!" Sonic half shouted, surprising himself. It was just… so overwhelming, being in a strange place with nothing familiar. Even the sight of the beautiful, snow-tipped mountain peaks across the skyline didn't cheer him up.

The car came to an abrupt halt, Sonic grabbing the seat frantically to avoid pitching into the floorboard.

He grudgingly scooted forward and out of the car as the police officer unlocked swung the door open.

Granted, Sonic had never been to a courthouse, much less thought that he'd ever have to be brought _into_ one under police custody, but the building was easily identified. Sure, the big bold writing above the entrance reading "United States Courthouse" was a bit of a teller, but the impressive ivory columns and the glass-paned entrance atop a long set of stairs distinguished it from the rest of the cluttered buildings.

He had, at one time, been desperate enough to consider going to court and filling a restraining order against Amy Rose, but she would've violated it and popped up in his house anyway. (How DID she get inside his apartment and manage to bury herself in his closet when she didn't have a key?)

Sonic fell forward unceremoniously as one of the cops shoved him forward. Clambering up, the azure male angrily glared at the bulkier human, one that clearly said "just-wait-until-I-get-these-cuffs-off-and-you'll-see-how-rude-you-are-then" before starting up the steps.

As he reached the annex, Sonic was very happy for the (rather strange) complete absence of people. Everything was calm and quiet. Moreover, there was no one to stare at him either. What with the reactions of the people on the street corner, you would think they had never seen a walking, talking (strikingly handsome, if he did say so himself) blue hedgehog.

The policemen herded him throughout strange hallways and empty rooms before coming to a stop in front of a door that was plain and blank, which was strange because every door in the building was labeled or otherwise marked to act as a guide for the hopelessly lost.

He had been slightly confused when the humans had just shoved him right past the door that read "Courtroom" seeing as they had taken him to a _courthouse._ He had to stand trial for whatever the hell type of crime it was he committed, right? Maybe the people of the city thought he was a wild, infected animal and were deathly afraid of rabies. Sonic had to stop himself from checking for any froth at the mouth.

"Are you sure you guys know what you're doing? Don't I have to get an attorney first, or something?" Instead of an answer, the cops opened the door and flung him inside.

He considered himself lucky that he didn't land facedown again. The room he occupied was bare, except for a small, worn, dust-covered wooden table and a decrepit old chair next to it. The swinging, cone shaped lamp with the half-dead bulb was the only source of illumination. Sonic vaguely wondered if someone would pop out of the shadows and start asking him questions about where he was on the 20th or when he left town on Tuesday or what he was doing wearing a deformed costume that was supposed to resemble himself.

Scooting the chair back as best he could- everything was _hard_ when your hands are cuffed together- Sonic plopped down, surprised that it didn't collapse under his weight. Sighing, the hedgehog thought aloud, "I wonder when I get my phone call. Maybe I can call Tails, see if he can get me out of this. That is, if the kid still isn't riled up about the staple gun… On the other hand, y'know, I could call Amy. She'd likely be angry to enough to massacre anything in her way to come rescue me."

He thought he heard a slight shuffle in the shadows. Shifting the chair around, Sonic scanned the room, but his green eyes didn't pick up anything unusual. Not, the hedgehog thought, that there was anything "usual" about the situation. He was alone in a strange city, handcuffed in some kind of investigation room/storage closet that hadn't seen human contact in possibly a millennia.

"Or a feather duster," the teenage hedgehog said, eyeing the dust particles that drifted about lazily in the light from the overhead lamp. This place was **dirty.**

There was a barely perceptible prick on his upper shoulder. Sonic briefly thought he saw a form swathed in a white coat and the flash of a glass syringe in the swinging light.

He suddenly knew the source of the noise.

"So… wait… they stick me, the good guy…with something?" Sonic's words were suddenly heavy, slurred. His mouth struggled to form words. His eyes were seeing spots and inky bursts of darkness.

"I'd hate… to see…how they treated….the criminals…"

He tried to stand up, but his legs were suddenly very unsteady, and his brain seemed to lack any sort of higher function, other than 'feel-funny, rest-now.' Sonic collapsed to the floor, his vision dimming to a murky black.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

Ciel - Haha, we finally updated! Oh joyness! It's my fault it's late, in case you were wondering; I'm a lazy person. My bad. By the way, the new Edit/Preview Document thing is weird...I wish we had the old one back...oh well. By the way, Blue Mage Quartet has this to say: "Sorry about the wait! Oh, and that review button looks pretty lonely...mind giving it a click?" So yeah, that's what we have to say. Enjoy! Oh, and the disclaimer still applies, of course.

----

"You really shouldn't worry so much about Sonic, Tails. I'm sure he's off somewhere, ignoring the rest of the world on one of his 'adventures,' like always."

This was said by the current guardian of Angel Island, Knuckles. He and the twin-tailed fox were wandering amongst the various leafy greens of one of the island's jungles, seemingly aimlessly. Tails didn't have much of an idea as to where they were going; he was too preoccupied with the matter at hand, his twin tails twirling and twisting around anxiously.

"Usually, I'd say you were right," Tails admitted. "But…it's the fact that no one's seen him."

"It's happened before. Remember, right before the Nocturne incident, he was gone for, oh, I dunno…two years?" Knuckles shrugged; he was probably wondering how long the kitsune was going to be here.

"But people saw him during those two years," Tails argued, absently stepping on what he would usually call 'a prime specimen of the unique flora on Angel Island,' at least when he was feeling overly scientific. "There was almost always some blue streak, or some sighting of him. Don't you remember the 'Sonic Watch' section on the news?"

"Don't you remember that I don't have a TV to watch the news in the first place?"

"I made you one awhile ago!"

"…Oh, yeah…that TV. Funny story about that…"

"No time; you're changing the subject." The fox shook his head and sighed. "Thing is, nobody's seen Sonic for over two weeks. That's almost unheard of. I'm worried that something happened to him…" Something like Eggman? No, Tails thought; Eggman had attacked a few zones recently, so he couldn't be up to anything sneaky. Aside from Sonic missing, as a matter of fact, there hadn't been anything out of the ordinary. Just…a world without Sonic, it seemed.

Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "Two weeks ago? That's the last time he was on my island." He rolled his eyes, presumably at the very memory of it. "Popped up, annoyed the hell out of me…and then didn't even say goodbye when he left."

"That's not like him." Tail's turned to Knuckles with concern shining clearly in his eyes, his tails gone from twirling to whipping at the air. "You don't think something could have happened to him, do you? Maybe something on the island-"

"I would have found a spiky blue body if something attacked him," The guardian muttered gruffly. "Nothing goes unnoticed while I'm around."

Of course, the fox knew better than that, but he also knew not to say so. Instead, he was wondering how Sonic got on the island. He must have taken the Tornado, stopped by, and then flew off. That might account for why nobody had seen him, if he stayed in the plane…but that wasn't like him either. Maybe he had used Chaos Control? No, that still wouldn't account for why he was missing…

"There's that weird lake again."

"Huh?" Snapping out of his thoughts, Tails looked in front of them. There was what appeared to be a small lake, but there was something off about it. At certain angles, it looked almost see through. Like there was a piece missing. Looking closer, it was if there was not just a hole in the lake, but the whole island; the holes led to nothing but clouds and skies, the ground out of sight.

"It appeared during the last Terra Quake," Knuckles explained calmly. "The island has a habit of sometimes rearranging everything, so some things show up, and some things disappear. This appeared last time; I've never seen anything like it."

Tails didn't reply right away. A hole in the middle of nowhere? That wasn't possible…then again, he remembered that once, Vector had raved for weeks on end about some hole that things disappeared into, never to return. Of course, no one had believed the detective, since there were many things Vector heard of that were results of a misunderstanding. Still, what if…

What if he had been telling the truth?

"…Do you think Sonic could have run into this on accident?" Tails asked.

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"I see." There was a pause as the both of them stared at the lake, clouds drifting lazily underneath. "I'm going in."

"What?!"

Tails turned to his echidna friend, looking more determined than ever before. "I have a feeling that Sonic may have gone through here on accident. That would explain why nobody's seen him, and why he didn't say goodbye to you. I have to go after him." And, Tails didn't want to admit it, but something far worse than falling may have happened to his hero.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Good luck on that."

"…You aren't coming?"

"I have more important things to do."

"But Sonic's life could be at stake!" Tails exclaimed, both tails writhing in annoyance. "Don't you care about him?"

"The Master Emerald could be at stake if I left," Knuckles explained in a surprisingly calm tone. He looked Tails in the eye, as if to make sure he was being heard. "Look, I care about Sonic. He's…a good person. However, he's only been on Mobius for eighteen years or so. The world's dealt without him. The Master Emerald, on the other hand, has been here since the beginning of time. Everything would go out of control if it was gone."

For a moment, it seemed like the kitsune would shout out a retort. Instead, his ears drooped, and his tails sunk as low as they could.

"I suppose you have a point," Tails said, knowing that he wouldn't be able to convince the echidna otherwise. That meant only one thing. "Then I guess I'll go alone. I'll be back in a little bit; I need to pack."

The fox turned around, heading for where his plane was parked, trying to keep worry and anxiety from his troubled mind. The guardian watched without a sound.

"This is not going to end well…"

----

Click. A new page opened on the computer screen, linking up to a search engine. Meaningless advertisements fought for dominance on the page with size and flashy colors.

Click. Tappity-tap. The words "New Sonic Game" showed up in perfect lines and curves.

Click. Press go.

Arthur Davidson sighed, going through his usual afternoon routine. His homework was finished, Dad was at work, Mom was folding clothes, and his annoying older sister had finally stopped hogging the computer long enough for him to check the rumors about Sega's newest creation. Hopefully, it'd be for a console he actually owned; he looked over at his poor PSP, which was collecting dust on the charger. It felt like he hadn't played a good Sonic game -or a good game in general- in forever. He didn't even have the time, what with school, and his parents pushing him for college. It was still two years away; couldn't they wait a bit?

Oh well. At least there was Sonic. Now, about that game…if only the computer would load faster…

Surprisingly, at least half of the top search results weren't even about the game.

"Sonic spotted in LA," Arthur read aloud, adjusting his glasses for a better view. "God, who wrote this? Did some fangirl get high or something?" Most likely. It sounded like an idea for a bad fanfiction, to be honest. Maybe it was; stupid, unreliable search engine.

Next headline. "Iconic Blue Hedgehog sighted in Los Angeles, April 15th…"

That was only a few weeks ago, right? And this one was from a credible news source; it was the one his parents watched every morning. Definitely not a fanfic. So then, what did this mean? He had to find out.

Click.

Reading with an almost unnatural speed, Arthur was surprised by the article's contents. Apparently, what appeared to be a blue, humanoid hedgehog was sighted in the middle of LA, causing an uproar until the police carted him off. There were all sorts of quotes, and claims from the police that it was just some lunatic in an outfit. Others raved that it had to be Sonic, it had to be real. There were pictures, too, from eye witnesses…

Now, where were those supposed pictures?

Click.

A new page loaded, with multitudes of photos taken by those on-site. Most of them weren't especially good, and either too crowded or quite blurry, but…wait, there was one, right near the bottom.

Oh.

No way.

Impossible. It had to be impossible.

Click. The picture was enlarged.

There, standing clear as day, was an extremely confused, blue-and-tan furred, undeniably realistic, anthropomorphic…hedgehog.

Sonic.

Could all his childish fantasies from the last five years be true? Could his favorite blue hero really, really be real?

It was time to look up more articles, before his parents came home or his sister decided to hog the computer again. There was no time to waste.

Click.

----

Tails stood upon the edge of the lake. This time, he was alone. He had already said his farewells to Knuckles, and had sent messages to the others that he might not be back for awhile. Tails couldn't help but think it would be a long while, unfortunately. He had all the gadgetry he thought necessary, provisions, and just in case, a good book. A book could come in handy for many, many things.

_"I hope Sonic's alright,"_ He thought to himself. _"For that matter, I hope I'll be alright…"_

He had to stop thinking like that. He'd chicken out if he wasn't careful, and he was trying quite hard not to already.

Taking a deep breath, the fox stepped into the lake.

It was at this moment he realized two things. First, it didn't feel like water, but instead, like walking straight off a cliff, which he of course had never done before. And second…it had been barely past noon when he left, but the sky was, for some reason, dimming, with brilliant pink and orange clouds…

He finally saw the ground, far, far away. His tails wouldn't allow him to fly, for he was falling fast. Way past fast.

_"Is this how fast Sonic usually goes?"_

_"…Or at least, how fast he would go?"_

It would be impossible to survive a fall like this. _"No, don't think like that now_,_"_ he told himself. It was time to think his final thoughts, the ones he had been saving for his deathbed years from now.

He waited to hit the ground.

And waited.

…

_"I shouldn't have stapled Sonic to the tree before I left."_

…

Perfect.

…

_Game Over. Continue?_

…

The sky was filled with white.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, look at this! Another update! Aren't we special?**

**This lovely chapter was written by Blue Mage Quartet. Now, Blue is awesome not just for writing this, but he's graduating High School too!**

**So, in the words of azngirlchibi…**

**PLEASE GIVE US LOTS OF LOVE BY SENDING REVIEWS! ESPECIALLY BLUE,  
SINCE HE'S ****GRADUATING****!**

…**That is all. Now read.**

-=-=-=-=-=-

He opened his eyes.

Well, he THOUGHT he did. It was kind of hard to tell with it being so… dark. He vaguely considered waving his hand in front of face but dismissed that idea, as when he tried to move his arm it felt… held back, restrained.

Both arms were constricted tightly to his side, and he had just the tiniest trouble breathing.

Sonic groaned aloud as he felt the rough, fiber texture of rope embed itself in his sore arms. The only sound in the room was the scraping of the chair legs against the floor as he desperately struggled back and forth against the rope tightly wound around his torso.

"Great. Here I never thought I would ever be put in handcuffs or tied up with rope, and they both happen on the very same day," Sonic lamented, once again wondering what exactly he had done to piss these people off.

"_Well, Amy might try out the whole '12 Practical Applications of Bondage Material ' shtick if she ever gets her hands on me…"_ Sonic shuddered at the thought of S&M! Amy and the experiments she would--- possibly---maybe--- almost definitely--- conduct with a gleeful smile on her face with a gagged and bound Sonic.

"At least, I still _think _it's the same day…" A song the police officers had listened to on the way to the courthouse flashed in his head. It had featured a rather gruff voiced woman who could sail from the high notes down to the low ones… what was her name? Jeannie Hicks? Lily Micks?

"Stevie Nicks!" Sonic's lips curved into a smile, snapping his fingers proudly, "'All around, black ink darkness'… I'd say that line sums up my situation right about now."

The hero tilted his head to where he assumed the ceiling to be. He had never realized until then that he relied so much on his sense of sight; avoiding attacks and obstacles, finding rings… it was something he valued, but took for granted.

"It must be awful, not being able to see your surroundings, being able to touch something you see, never knowing where you were and never recognizing places and friends," Sonic contemplated aloud, wondering if maybe he had taken one too many knocks on the back of the head and was suffering for it now by going blind.

In complete and total darkness, Sonic's sense of direction, his sense of _being _was turned upside down.

"Amy barging to my rescue would be _really _convenient right now."

Right as those words left his lips, a creaking sound invaded his ears.

"Amy, if it's you, I promise I take back the S&M comment! Really, I mean, I'm open to new and exciting things… it's just, you know, you can be really _scary_… Tell you what, if you get me out of here I'll go on a date with you!"

His frantic murmuring and hoping was interrupted by bright yellow light assaulting his eyes.

Squinting against the offensive brightness, Sonic's vision eventually adjusted to a broad shouldered individual dressed in an impeccably clean lab technician's outfit.

"You are so obviously _not _Amy. Gee, thanks for getting a hedgehog's hopes up!" The hero said scathingly towards this gruff looking, dark haired individual. "By the way, mind telling me how I ended up tied to this chair in this little laboratory of yours?"

The expansive room was impossibly… clean. And white. Glass beakers and vials filled with bubbling chemicals, security cameras showing black and white images, microscopes and scanners, literal mountains of paperwork, medical supplies…. it looked like a place for the types who were more interested in _testing_ and _experimenting_ on human beings than being one.

Sonic's attention was diverted at the sharp prick in his finger. The tech hadn't even bothered removing his gloves; just shoved the needle for drawing blood right through the material.

The hedgehog briefly eyed the red pattern welling and spreading on his right index finger before staring icily at the technician. "Is this your strange, mentally inhibited way of showing hospitality? I mean, yes, Robotnik tried to blow up everything dear to me several times a week. But his was a respectful 'I'll kill you with _love!'_ kind of thing, not out and out rude and sneaky."

"So, you can bleed."

Sonic was surprised at the light, almost musical tone of voice coming from the imposing man. He replied angrily, "And I can talk and run and jump too! Isn't it amazing?'

An imposing gleam shone in the man's dark eyes before her continued, "Sonic the Hedgehog, test subject SEA001B; do you know exactly what you are?"

"Why, last time I checked, I happened to be a hedgehog."

"Programs are locked into place, working only on the designated machine they were built for…they cannot interact with the world," the man seemed to be announcing things rather than speaking, his offertory loud and booming.

" A video game is merely overlapping bits of code. Data, motion, voice, expression, created and imposed onto the frame of a computerized image made to look like an anthropomorphic hedgehog. You are a program with nothing but artificiality built into you."

"An AI like you, a program created by humans, cannot breathe, or walk, or bleed. You can't _exist_ here," the man leaned in inches away from Sonic's smaller frame, his face contorted into a sneer.

That was when Sonic spit in his face.

-=-=-=-=-=-

He opened his eyes.

This technically should not have been possible, as he had hurtled towards the ground at impossibly fast speeds (ones that easily rivaled Sonic's) and scattered into several fox bits once his body had forcefully reacquainted itself with Mother Nature.

Not to mention he had somehow managed to plummet _through _a _lake _and spiraled down into an endless abyss of technicolor sky and wispy clouds.

For one of very few times in his (admittedly short) life, Miles "Tails" Prower had no clue _what_ to think.

Gingerly the little fox leaned rose to a sitting position on his knees.

Which, in and of itself, was _weird_. Tails' breath hitched in his throat, surprised at how much lighter he felt.

Yet at the same time, he felt…sturdier, somehow. His arms and legs were slightly both thicker and stronger, as if he spent a few weeks training rigorously (i.e. getting pummeled) by Knuckles. His body, overall, felt lean and compact, his stomach less of a slight potbelly and more wiry.

Tails carefully poked and prodded his head (noting that it felt smaller), entertaining the idea that this possibly a strange dream and he was truthfully snoring away on the couch in his workshop.

"After all, it wouldn't be the first time such a thing happened," Tails mused as he felt a defined neck that hadn't been prominent at _all before, _"Sonic told me all that mint chocolate chip ice cream before bed has a strange effect on my brain while I sleep."

At a loss, the twin tail closed his eyes, inhaling and then exhaling quickly. Thoroughly calmed down, the kit opened his eyes in an attempt to ascertain where he was.

Intelligent blue eyes took in their surroundings. Pristine greenery all around him was accompanied by the sound of rushing water, the large creek cascading down a natural rock wall like a miniature waterfall. Majestic mountains rose far off in the horizon, and a little closer to Tails were towering constructions of steel and glass that sharply contrasted the beauty of nature.

Skyscrapers that he hadn't seen the like of since Central City or Station Square--- which, by the way, was both in ruins and underwater.

"If I'm still on Mobius, then this is definitely a place where Sonic and I haven't been before. I wasn't aware that humans had expanded past their central sphere of influence near the Mystic Ruins…" Tails surmised, hand on chin thoughtfully. He had tagged along with his surrogate older brother for many an adventure and was certain they had covered everywhere that wasn't on the bottom of the ocean floor, in secluded dark caves or boiling in molten lava.

"_Maybe Sonic was playing a practical joke, hiding from the world and Chaos Controlling away whoever happened to pass him by. And I ended up here, maybe in a different time or even dimension. But, that wouldn't explain why the blinding white light was...white instead of green. Or these weird changes that happened to me."_

"And I fell through a LAKE," Tails flatly stated, as if repeating the fact over and over again would make it any more tangible and easy to grasp.

Or logical.

Or possible.

With an absentminded huff that was usually used to blow the bangs out of his eyes (which were slightly shorter and scruffier than normal) the engineering prodigy decided that he should find out where, or when, as the case may be, he was.

"There's no point in just sitting around hoping for an answer to come to me." Tails told himself resolvedly as he set forward through the leafy wilderness.

It was nice, at first. The trees were impossibly tall and reached for the heavens. Flowers of all shapes and colors were sprouting high and low, swaying in the light breeze. Tails could even swear the clouds floating in the sky resembled faces of his friends.

After an hour or two of plodding tiredly through what a nature tour and travel guide might call 'A mighty, boundless testament to the natural beauty and power of the wild!' while flashing a dazzlingly white smile, Tails felt that if he ever met said nature guide, he would kick them in the teeth.

"Gee, this is like fun, only boring," The fox muttered angrily as he stumbled over a fallen, rotting, weathered tree corpse for what must have been the fourth time that day.

Feeling like he had seen enough green _anything _for the rest of his life, Tails was busy concocting a plan to burn the palm trees on his landing strip that wouldn't set everything else on fire as well as hide the Master Emerald so he wouldn't ever have to see it again (despite the incurred wrath of his hot-headed echidna friend) when he ran into something.

Or rather, his face ran into something.

Cursing the fact that he was so short, Tails massaged his cheeks and jaw as the blurry words on the wooden sign came into focus.

As his mind ran over the letters printed before him, the expression in his sinking, forlorn blue eyes began to match the droop of his ears.

"Santiago Park Nature Reserve?" Tails read incredously, feeling just a little bit of panic as his surroundings became more and more unfamiliar. A nature reserve was something you did _not _see when the population of the planet you lived on was chock full of anthropomorphic animals. Were the others on this planet like him endangered? Persecuted to the point of near wipeout?

The words were pushed into the back of his mind as his eyes took in a scene that changed his interpretation of the words 'humanity'. Sure, he had seen Station Square at its busiest but it didn't even compare on the scale of 'congested cities filled with humans who build impossibly tall expensive buildings for no reason' to what he saw now.

The city a few miles in the distance was a clogged, winding maze of concrete, asphalt and metal. The sections not covered by speeding cars and flashing lights were populated with bustling humanity of both foot and bike. Stores and ethnic restaurants lined every corner, signs spelling out unknown words and phrases Tails couldn't comprehend.

Feeling slightly overwhelmed by such an overflow of artifice and life, the youngster retreated behind the bulky sign and took cover behind the multitude of trees. Humans weren't the most trustworthy people to the fox, the old man Tails was most associated with being the person whose mug-shot you would find next to the definition 'psychotic scientist' in a dictionary.

Who knows how these people would react to a two-tailed fox just happening upon their streets in the middle of the evening?

"Sonic, I hope you're okay, wherever you are right now," Tails said with a frown, concern showing for his adopted older brother---his only family--- in both expression and voice.

With his best wishes and hopes for Sonic at the forefront of his thoughts, Miles "Tails" Prower vanished into the foliage.

-=-=-=-=-=-

There we go! Now, hopefully we'll update quicker next time (unless I'm the one writing it, of course…I take forever, thank you much.)

**So now, our graduating author, Blue, has something to tell you…**

**IF YOU LOVED US YOU WOULD GIVE US REVIEWS AND FEEDBACK. AT LEAST TELL US HOW WE DID.**

…**I WAS supposed to keep it in all caps, right?**

**Oh well. 'Til next time!**


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